As a 10-year-old boy, Danny Yong got advice after his father’s death from cancer that drives him to this day.

Greg Coffey was described by Louis Moore Bacon as “one of the most impressive traders in the world” when the billionaire founder of Moore Capital Management LLC hired him in 2008 to help manage his hedge funds. His investment performance since has been subpar.

Bruce Kovner is betting he can pull off what eluded Stanley Druckenmiller and Julian Robertson: Keeping his hedge fund alive after retiring from trading client money.

Almost half of Leslie Quick’s personal portfolio is dedicated to hedge funds, a position he’s increased this year even as the lightly regulated asset pools have returned less than 4 percent.